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XLII: SARAVALĪ PRAKĪRṆAKA
practioners - Śramaṇa-sangha - was established. The very same concept can be discerned in Mulācāra of the Yāpanīya tradition of the Jaina faith, the fact that we have already mentioned earlier.
In the later times, in the Jaina tradition, too, the concept of tīrtha underwent a change and the physical tīrthas such as various holy places were also acepted as places of pilgrimage. First of all the places associated with the auspicious events in the lives of the Tirthankaras (Kalyāṇaka-ksetras) were accepted as such. In later periods not only the places of auspicious events of the Prophets but also the places of liberation of their principal disciples (Ganadharas) and other monks (Siddha-ksetras) were accepted as holy places or tīrthas. Still later, even those places where there were temples of architectural grandeour and where the main idols of the Tirthankaras or their attending gods were believed to be endowed with miraculous powers were also accepted as holy places of pilgrimage or as tīrthas.
The Basic Difference In The Hindu And Jaina Concepts Of Tīrtha
It is true that, in due course, like in the Hindu tradition the Jainas, too, started giving importance to the worshipping and pilgrimage to certain places by believing them to be holy and pious, still there is a fundamental difference in the concept of tīrtha in the two traditions. The Hindu tradition believes that certain rivers, lakes, etc. such as the Ganges, as naturally holy and pious. This river is not associated with any event in the life of any saint or monk, but is naturally holy. It is believed that by bathing in, worshiping at, offering and giving charity and going on pilgrimage to such holy places are meritorious acts. Opposed to this concept. in the Jaina tradition any place of pilgrimage is not considered to be holy by itself but by its association with the auspicious events in
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